A soe os WY surprises with third place finish 441m very happy with the way our guys rose to the occasion no matter what the circumstances. 99 —WV coach Bruce Holmes Oe] HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS THE HIGHLANDS ran out of luck on Friday the 13th when the Cinderella squad’s quest for West Vancouver Secondary’s first provincial boys’ basketball championship since 1982 was abruptly halted. By Bob Mackin Jr. Contributing Writer The plaid-clad lads entered last week’s ‘AAA’ B.C. High School Boys Basketball tournament rank- ed No. 8. They managed to upset two higher-ranked teams before Fri- day’s devastating 94-57 semi-final loss at the hands of eventual tournament winner, Victoria’s St. Michael’s University School Blue Devils (SMU). But West Van capped the season, which was supposed to be a year to rebuild, with yet another upset: a 74-70 defeat of the Van- couver College Fighting Irish in Saturday’s third-place showdown. The Highlanders trailed 35-31 at halftime, but led by 2!-point scorer Tom Story, they outpaced the unlucky Irish 43-35 in the se- cond half. The North Shore zone champi- on may have had a similar result against SMU had it not been for a late first-quarter offensive breakdown that evolved into a second-quarter drought. “The bottom line for us is we went seven minutes without a hoop,"”’ said West Van coach Bruce Holmes. **] don’t care who you're play- ing, you go seven minutes at senior level ball and you're not scoring, you are in trouble,’’ he said. West Van ended the first half on the short end of a 38-20 game, bit netted another 20 points in the third quarter alone. The three-quarter score of 61- 40 kept the Highlanders’ boister- ous fans hopes as high as the Agrodome roof. But SMU’s solid defence and driving offence could not be subdued. Milan Uzelac, SMU’s guard, scored seven three-pointers en route to a game-high 25 points. Jeremy Harris and tournament MVP Stephen Nash added 16 points apiece to the Devils’ romp. All-star Todd Humphries netted 16 points for West Van. West Van opened the tourna- ment last Wednesday with a 79-69 win over No. 4-ranked Prince of Wales. a TONE ee a LS ce) eee fix. oe NEWS phets Mike Wakefield AN SMU Blue Devil is surrounded by WV Highianders during Friday night’s semi-final match. West Vancouver lost the game (94-57), but went on to finish third in the provincial tournament with a victory over Vancouver College. Juvenile skiers take home medals Matt Coyne led the Highlanders with 25 points — including six three-pointers — to spoil the Walesmen’s first irip to the B.C. tourney since 1964. The Highlanders tamed the No. 5-ranked North Delta Huskies Thursday with a 63-61 quarter- final victory. Coyne helped subdue the dogs by scoring 20 points, just one day after North Delta mauled Cran- brook’s Mt. Baker Trojans 106- Coach Holmes was ecstastic with the team’s performance — the school’s best since it went all the way 10 years ago. The rookie coach was left with the remnants of last year’s tour- nament favorite that lost in the quarter-finals. But he successfully transformed last year’s ben- chwarmers into this year’s starters. “Pm very happy with the way our guys rose to the occasion no matter what the circumstances,’’ Holmes said. “t don’t think we have anything to be embarrassed about. Any team that goes out on the floor is going to have a hard time with St. Mike’s. “The guys on the bench last year sat there and learned. I’m just hoping the guys sitting on the bench this year are watching and learning for next year,” said Holmes. Meanwhile North Vancouver's Handworth Royals finished in eighth place after Saturday's 81- 56 loss to Abbotsford. Handsworth, the North Shore zone runner-up, got to the tour- nament Tuesday with a back-door victory over Kelowna, but bowed out of championship contention with a first-round loss to Van- couver College. : ALPINE SKI racers from the North Shore once again displayed their strength and talent as they represented various clubs at the J2 Clearly Canadian Provincial champi- onship for 13- and-14-year- olds held at Smithers and the National Juvenile champion- ships held at Mont Tremblant, Quebec. At the Clearly Canadian provincials, which consisted of two slalom and two. giant slalom (US) races, Davie Barr, who lives at Whistler and skis for that club, recorded a gold medal victory in the first slalom event and took two fourth place finishes in the giant slaloms. Blackcomb Ski club’s depth was displayed with three North Shore boys recording the fol- IN MONT Tremblay, Quebec, the racers contended with ex- lowing results: Jared Lay, gold in GS and fourth and fifth in slalom; Michael Perretin, a bronze in both GS and slalom as well as fifth in GS; and An- thony Bing with two sixth place finishes. Whistler’s Jonathon Awde, from Lions Bay, won a bronze and fifth in two slaiom races as well as a fifth in GS. In the women’s event, Whistler’s Monica Meier, from West Vancouver, skied to a gold medal victory in one slalom event as well as a silver and a fifth place in the GS. Grouse Mountain Tyee, Aimee-Noel Hartley of North Vancouver, won a Clearly Ca- nadian gold in one GS as well as a fourth. She skied to a bronze and fourth in the slalom events as well. Blackcomb’s Katie Dunn re- corded an impressive bronze "erage Photo submitted treme weather conditions and rain which forced cancellation of the downhill race. medal result in a GS event. From these results seven women and !0 men were selected to the B.C. Team which travelled to Mont Tremblant for the Canadian Juvenile championships last week. In Quebec, the racers con- tended with extreme weather conditions which ranged from 7°C to -27°C. with wind chill factors to -40°C, as well as rain which forced the cancella- tion of the downhill race. | The B.C. team finished in third position overall, facing the depth and strength of the Quebec women and Ontario men. Whistler’s Barr tied for the silver in slalom, recorded two fourth-place results in a Super G and GS and a sixth in Super G to take a convincing silver medal in the overall. Biackcomb’s Jay impressed with consistent results which ranged from i2th to 18th. Perretin and Awde recorded best results in the top 15 and 20. North Shore girls, who are 13 and in the first year of the J2 division, put in strong and consistent performances in Quebec. Grouse’s Harley edged Whistler’s Meier by 2/100 se- cond to take sixth place in the slalom. Harley went on to record fourth- and _ sixth-place results in the Super Gs and an 11th in the GS. Meier’s strong seventh place in the slalom was followed by top 20 finishes in the Super G and GS. .